Ice cube ejectors



Feb. 27, 1962 E, A. BAlLLlF ETAL ICE CUBE EJECTORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 18, 1957 QT N T affnkllullllll, llll al Feb. 27, 1962 E. A. BAILLIF ETAL ICE CUBE EJECTOR-S Fild Feb. 18. 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F .WJ VMC T N.0 W .IHK Y Nl N MA RL F-.H Y B United States Patent() 3,022,645 ICE CUBE EJECTORS Ernest A. Baillif and Alan 5. Koch, Evansville, Ind., as-

signors to Whirlpool Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 18, 1957, Ser. No. 640,899 2 Claims. (Cl. 62-344) The present invention relates to ice cube ejectors, and is particularly concerned with devices of the type which are adapted to act on a grid contained in an ice tray that has been removed from the evaporator Vof a refrigerator and been placed in a box-like structure, and by actuating a lever mechanism the molded ice cubes are released into a bin.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of an improved ice cube ejector which is adapted to receive, after freezing, an inverted tray of ice cubes for the purpose of releasing the cubes from the grid by mechanical means, by merely pushing on an external lever.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved ice cube ejecting mechanism which is simple in construction, positive in its action, capable of economical manufacture, which may be installed in any household refrigerator, and which requires a minimum amount of manual operations.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved tray, grid, and ice cube ejecting mechanism which are adapted to provide a supply of ice cubes to be maintained in an ice cube bin without the necessity lfor melting the cubes or heating the tray; so that the cubes may always be in a dry condition and so that they will not .adhere together in the bin.

As used herein the term ice cube is meant to include any shape of ice block that may be formed by the freezing of a liquid such as water.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, in which similar characters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, of which there are two sheets,

FlG. l is a side elevational View in partial section of a box-like support showing tray, ejecting grid, bellcrank shaft, and drawer-like ice cube bin; with parts associated with one tray support wall shown in broken line.

FIG. 2 is a front end elevational view of the objects contained in FlG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an exploded View showing the parts of the bracket, which supports the forwardly extending roller for actuating the ice cube ejector;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional View, taken on the plane of the line 4-4 of FIG. l.

Referring to FlG. 1, 19 indicates a portion of a bor'- like support for an ice tray, with top wall 11, side walls 12 and 13, rear wall 14, and bottom Wall 15. The bottom Wall 15 and the lower portions of the side wal-ls 12 and 13 are provided with a multiplicity of sinuous coils 16, 17, and 18 of the evaporator type, which keep the entire lower portion of the box-like structure at a temperature weil below freezing.

ln PEG. 2, the side walls 12 and 13 are provided with shelf ridges 19 and 2l) made of metal or plastic, for rigidly supporting in a fixed inverted position, an ice tray 21 along edges 7 and 8 thereof. The ice tray 21 comprises a pan with a bottom wall 22, side walls 23 and 24 and end walls 25 and 25a joined by easy connecting bends.

In FG. l, the end walls 25 and 25a are shown as extending from the pan bottom wall 22 at an angle of approximately 120 degrees which is slightly greater than the angle of extension of the side walls from the bottom wall. The end wall 25a has an outwardly curled edge 37.

3,022,645 Patented Feb. 27, 1962 The tray 21 contains an adjustable but permanently atlixed grid 26, comprising a longitudinal dividing member 27, a multiplicity of cross plates 33, 34, and 35, and a linking strip 29.

The longitudinal member 27 contains a multiplicity of rectangular slots 30, 31, and 32 in its upper edge, as shown in the inverted ejecting position in FIG. l, for receiving the upper portions of the cross plates 33, 34, and 35.

The longitudinal member 27 also has projecting from its rear end a metal hook 36 pointing in the direction of the extended tray edge 37.

The front end of longitudinal member 27 has an opening 38 for receiving a plug 39. When the grid is perma` nently installed within the tray 21, the plug 39 is inserted through a hole 40 in the tray front end wall 25, and extended into the opening 38 of the longitudinal dividing member.

The linking strip 29 uses less vertical space than the longitudinal'member 27 and has a series of rectangular slots 41, 42, and 43, as shown in FIG. 1, with the tray in ejecting position, extending along its lower edge and each slot increasing in horizontal length from the front to the rear of the tray. The linking strip 29 slides alon an edge 44 of the longitudinal member 27.

The cross plates 33, 34, and 35 are identical in construction, and each has a vertical slot 46, in its mid section. A section 49 of the slot 46 is wider than the main slot and is contained for the purpose of assembly, for receiving the linking strip 29 beside the longitudinal dividing member 27, the strip 29 being inserted through the slot 49 and raised into position above the longitudinal member 27 with the tray in upright position.

ln FIGS. l and 2, the linking strip 29 has a slidably attached roller bracket 50, comprising a metal plate 51V with a central portion 60, having a yoke received in slots 56 of plates 57. The sides of the slot 56 are built up and strengthened by the addition of two `or more plate sections 57, attached by rivet or welded, and the sides of the plate 51 are bent at right angles to the central portion 60 to form two metal arms 52 and 53.

In FIG. 3, the two arms 52 and 53 bend away from each other and become parallel again, creating a greater distance between the arms and their tips 61 and 62, than at the end 60. The tips 61 and 62 each have a hole 63- crank shaft 69 being provided at the center of its length dimension with an extending flange 72.

Referring to FIG. 2, in the box-like structure containing the completed ice cube ejecting mechanism with ice tray and grid in ejecting position, the length of the extending flange '72 is greater than the distance between bellcrank shaft 69 and the roller 66 of the grid bracket The bellcrank shaft 69 has the end 71 projecting through and beyond the hole 68 in the box-like structure side wall 13. The bellcrank shaft 69 is attached to a turning lever 73 provided at its lower end with a cylindrical socket 74. One side of socket 74 is provided with a threaded hole and screw 75. The lever 73 is provided at its upper end with a handle 76.

The end 71 of the bellcrank shaft has an aperture 95 for receiving the end of screw 75, when the lever socket 3 74 is placed on the bellcrank shaft end, with the lever handle 76 raised above the shaft 69 and the lever itself in'a near vertical position and the projecting flange 72 extended to the front of the box-like structure and below the inverted linking strip and roller bracket.

In construction of the mechanism these positions lshould be maintained to later insure proper and eicient ejecting of the ice cubes from the tray containing grid 26.

The outside surface of box-like structure side wall 13 has a circular projecting pin 77 placed in front of, and above the crank shaft hole 68, the pin being attached by weld or bolt at 78. The side wall 13 is provided to the rear of hole 68 with a small hole 79 for receiving an end 81 of a wire spring 80.

The spring 80 spirals counterclockwise and is wrapped around bellcrank shaft 69 between the side wall 13and the extending ilange 72. The bellcrank shaft 69 is provided with a small through hole 81a to the right of ange 72, for receiving the other end 82 of spring 80.

Spring 80 is adjusted so that lever 73 is held forward under tension in resting position against pin 77, with the flange 72 extendingk from the bellcrank shaft 69 having its tip below the grid roller bracket 66, and not interfering with removal or insertion of the tray on the shelf ridges 19 and 20.

Referring to FG. 2, the bellcrank shaft 69 has near its right end 71 a small hole 82a with an inserted cotter-pin 83 holding a mounted washer 84 against the wall 13 in order to keep the bellcrank shaft 69 in a rm rotatable position.

The lower portion of the box-like structure is equipped with a drawer bin 85, for receiving ejected ice cubes, having side walls 86 and 87, bottom wall 88, rear wall 89, and front wall 90 provided with an operative handle l91.

The operation of the ejecting mechanism is as follows:

The tray 21 of frozen ice cubes is removed from'the freezing evaporator of a household refrigerator and placed in an inverted position in the upper portion of boxlike structure 10,'as shown in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. l, the ice ejecting mechanism lever 73 is rotated in a clockwise manner by pressing lever handle 76. The bellcrank shaft 69 rotates clockwise, causing extended ange 72 to come into engagement with the grid bracket roller 66, forcing the grid bracket 50 to the right, moving linking strip 29 also to the right.

The movement to the right of linking strip 29, containing rectangular slots 41, 42, and 43, causes the slot trailing edges 93, 94, and 95a to engage successively cross plates 33, 34, and 35, tilting the top` edges of the cross plates one after another to the right, the ice cubes successively being ejected from the multiplicity of paired grid sockets 4, 5, and 6, into the refrigerated ice cube drawer bin 85, where the cubes remain in solid form, not frozen together, until such time as they may be removed for use.

While we have illustrated a preferred embodiment of our invention, many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and we do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail ourselves of all changes within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In anice cube ejecting tray assembly, the combination of an ice cube tray with a grid, comprising a longitudinally extending division plate, a plurality of tilted transverse plates, each transverse plate having an elongated vertical slot in its central portion through which said division plate extends, an actuator strip located in the same plane as the divdertplate and passing through all of the transverse plate slots, said actuating strip having upwardly open notches at'each transverse plate, the walls of said notches engaging transverse plates to move them, a push bracket xedly secured to said actuator strip at one end, and a roller carried by said push bracket, the said roller being the subject of the application of force to push the actuating strip and move the transverse plates from a tilted position toward a vertical position to loosen the ice cubes, a support for said ice tray in inverted position, comprising a housing having side walls, rear wall, and top wall; said support having inwardly projecting guides onV said side walls for supporting the ice tray, and said rear wall and top wall forming stop means for preventing sliding movement of the ice tray when force is applied to said roller, the said guides being spaced from said top wall carried by said support sufficiently to receive the tray in inverted position, the tray engaging said top wall and rear wall when force is applied to saidroller, to prevent the adjacent end of the tray from beingmoved upward or backward, and force multiplying means carried by said support, comprising a crank arm engaging said roller, a shaft carrying said crank arm and rotatably mounted on said support and a lever xedly secured to said shaft,`and of sufcient length to result in the easy application of force to the roller by the crank larm for ejecting the ice cubes.

2. An ice cube ejecting assembly according to claim 1, in which the shaft has a coil spring about it with one end or the coil spring anchored ilr the shaft and the other end of the spring anchored inthe adjacent side wall, the spring urging the lever outward to a position where the tray and roller clear the crank arm, and stop means for holding the lever in this position.l

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Erickson et al. Oct. 11, 1960 

